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Unconventional Beach Reads

In my non-vacation life I read the lighter fare, the pulpier the fiction the better. I find it is perfect for the train and taking a break when work/school is too much. Which means I have to change it up on vacation. Hence my Unconventional Beach Reads Staff Picks for July/August. When I head to the beach I take the weightier books – figuratively & literally (I read Atlas Shrugged on vacation, which makes most people look at me askew) But I have the time, and no place to be. When I need a break, I can stare at the horizon or go swimming.

The figuratively weightier ones need space in my brain to be argued with, or to ruminate on, or to just try to wrap my head around. Things that are not always easy to accomplish on a subway commute, when your train is suddenly not running, and you have to figure out how to get to work another way. The literally weightier ones are the books that are so big you will hurt yourself trying to carry them to and from work. The plots are bigger, there are more characters and more intersections that have to jigsaw together in your brain. Basically these books require my actual attention not my partial “don’t miss your stop…hey what are the subway dancers doing…is something happened on twitter?” attention.

For some of these books I can tell you exactly what beach I was on, some I hope to read on the beach this summer. In a funny way when I come across the ones I have read, it takes me back to that beach.

There is fiction and nonfiction – biology to social science, dystopia to historical events, cells to black holes and even some baseball. Mix and match (Nudge and Happiness maybe) or make a pair with a theme (Moneyball and Summerland).